Artist Biography
Shashi Kapoor Born Balbir Raj Kapoor 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017 was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his work in Hindi films. Recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards, he also featured in a number of English-language international films, particularly films produced by Merchant Ivory. The Government of India honoured him with the prestigious Padma Bhushan in 2011, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, in 2014, for his contribution to cinema.
Personal Life:
Attended Don Bosco High School in Matunga, Bombay. In July 1958, he married the English actress Jennifer Kendal and they acted in a number of films together, most notably in the Merchant Ivory productions. He had three children with Kendal; Karan Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor and Sanjana Kapoor all of whom for a short while became film actors. Kendal died of cancer in 1984. The English actress Felicity Kendal is his sister-in-law.
His son Kunal is married to director Ramesh Sippy’s daughter and Sanjana to wildlife conservationist Valmik Thapar.
Shashi Kapoor was born as Balbir Raj Kapoor to Prithviraj Kapoor and his wife in Calcutta, British India, on 18 March 1938. He was the youngest brother of Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor.
Kapoor acted in plays, directed and produced by his father Prithviraj Kapoor, while travelling with Prithvi Theatres. He started acting in films as a child in the late 1940s under the name of Shashiraj, as there was already another actor by the same name who used to act in mythological films as a child artiste. His best-known performances as a child actor were in Aag and Awaara, where he played the younger version of the characters played by his older brother Raj Kapoor, and in Sangram, where he played the younger version of Ashok Kumar and Dana Paani where he acted with Bharat Bhushan. He worked in four Hindi films as a child artiste from 1948 to 1954.
Born into the Kapoor family, Kapoor was the third and youngest son of Prithviraj Kapoor. He began his career as a child actor in his brother Raj Kapoor’s directorial Aag (1948), and had his first adult role in Yash Chopra’s political drama Dharmputra. Kapoor was married to English actress Jennifer Kendal from 1958 till her death in 1984, and had three children– Kunal Kapoor, Karan Kapoor and Sanjana Thapar. He died at the age of 79 due to liver cirrhosis.
